Today is Earth Day 2021. Friends of the Earth (HK) organized its annual forum (the Earth Forum) with the theme of "Green Finance as a Catalyst of Decarbonization in Asia”. Representatives from Hong Kong regulatory bodies and European financial associations, senior management of listed companies from around Asia, and leading academic figures in the topic of Sustainable Finance were invited as honourable speakers to analyse latest trends in green finance, capital market's response to climate change, and the cultivation of green finance talents.

Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, announced this morning that Japan has decided to discharge the treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant into the ocean. The news sparked immediate and serious concerns from neighbouring countries...

The Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development convene today to discuss on the HK$6.8 billion financial assistance and the way forward of Ocean Park. Ocean Park shares a long history with Hong Kong since its opening in 1977 and positions itself as an edutainment park and a conservation centre...

Aftershocks have occurred 10 years after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. Magnitude 7.3 earthquakes struck offshore from Fukushima prefecture, causing a few tanks storing radioactive water to shift and cooling water levels to fall in two of the reactors at the Daichii power plant...

The Financial Secretary announced the latest budget today. Friends of the Earth (HK) welcomes the doubling of the borrowing ceiling of the Government Green Bond Programme to $200 billion, the proposal to increase first registration tax and vehicle license fee for private cars to combat traffic congestion, and the $500 million budget allocation to improve country park facilities. We are however sad to learn that the budget mostly offers short-term relief and lacks ambitious actions on addressing the looming climate emergency...

The Legislative Council’s Panel on Environmental Affair met on February 22 to discuss the proposal for the West New Territories (WENT) landfill extension, which will increase the landfill’s lifespan by 20 years. At the same time, in the “Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035” issued by the Environment Bureau this month, Hong Kong targets to develop sufficient waste-to-energy capacity to wean off landfill dependency.

【Friends of the Earth (HK)】 and World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) jointly held the online forum, "Roundtable with Asian Utilities Companies” today. Ho Yin Piu Bill, General Manager (Corporate Development) of HK Electric, Hendrik Rosenthal, Director of Group Sustainability from CLP Power, and Yong Por, Research Manager, Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) were invited as panel speakers and held a dialogue regarding the operation strategy and latest developments of electricity utilities in Asia on low-carbon transition...

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) earlier published a consultation paper seeking public feedback on the “Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers”, suggesting fund managers to take climate-related risks into consideration in their investment and risk management processes as well as when making appropriate disclosures...